Olympic Lottery money may not be returned
Last Updated: Thursday 24th September 2020, 15:51
The chairman of the Olympic Delivery Authority, John Armitt has said this week that the Olympic fund cannot guarantee that all money taking from National Lottery good causes fund would be returned to the pot as originally promised.
Money for good causes from the UK Lotto has been diverted to the Olympic fund by the bucket-load since the cost of the project tripled to £9.3 billion in lottery cash for the 2012 Olympic games but originally that cash was to be repaid to the good causes fund to replace the cash that has been diverted away.
However Edward Leigh, chair of the Public Accounts Committee has now said that it would be ‘wishful thinking’ to believe that this lottery money would ever be repaid.
The lottery has given almost £2 billion to the 2012 Olympics fund since it was set up but now it looks as though the good causes fund may not even see any of the money back in its coffers.
Of course this news may well come as a kick in the teeth to those lottery players and cynics who have been shouting that this is a gross misuse of lottery money. Many people who buy lotto tickets do so in the knowledge that they are helping charities and good causes around the UK.
There are already many dedicated scratchcards and instant win games dedicated to those who want to contribute to the lottery fund and no doubt many lottery players and UK individuals may believe that £9.3 billion to host the Olympics at the tail end of one of the worst recessions is foolhardy to say the least.
